Willy Vlautin creates a window into a world not many of us know. His characters never fall wholly into the sinner or saint category but you always root for them. They are ordinary people who find themselves in a bind and we always want someone to help them. Lynette is a prime example. She is 30 years old and far from perfect but so close to realizing the dream that has consumed her for the past three years. Working herself to death at three jobs (not all of them doing something that her mom would approve of ) she is ready to buy the house that she, her mom and her developmentally disabled brother Kenny have been renting. Just when she is so close, her mother pulls out and uses the saved money to buy a car leaving Lynette in the lurch scrambling to come up with the rest of the downpayment. What she does in the next few days she may not be proud of but she is desperate. Battling with depression and other demons she has fought so long to control she goes back to collect what is owed her. Flashbacks explain why she makes some of the choices she does. This is a lyrical, bittersweet look at working class people who are doing well enough to not qualify for help but still not well enough to grab the American Dream. If you are new to Willy Vlautin, this will make you a fan for life and if you are already a fan you will be looking for someone to pass the book to the minute you finish it. 5 heartbreaking stars
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Pip Williams takes us back to a converted garden shed where a group of hardworking lexigraphers collected words from all over to compile the first Oxford Dictionary.
It is under tables in the Scriptorium where Esme collects her own words at the feet of her father and fell in love with the power of words. Esme is watched over by a lovable housekeeper, Lizzie and a family friend Aunt Ditte but it is still an unusual upbringing. Years pass and finally Esme's dream of assisting the team is realized. It is also when Esme finds importance in the words that are omitted, mainly spoken by women, and compiles a dictionary of her own. This is a wonderful mashup of real events and the imagined life of what it was like to be an ambitious woman in a man's world. An amateur lexicographer's dream story but also a coming of age love story about relationships between all kinds of mothers and their charges. 4 stars What would you do to protect your child? Her life goes off the rails when her baby is kidnapped and to get him back she must commit a crime. This is just the start of her fall down the rabbit hole and taking care of her husband's law partner is just the beginning. Bree has some help in a P.I and an attorney who also have a stake in the game. The clock is ticking, they are dealing with a madwoman and it is a situation that would turn any mother's blood cold. This taunt thriller is just another example of Joshilyn Jackson's mastery of the genre. Seemingly average women forced to take matters into their own hands to protect their family. 4 wild ride stars
A family hidden in a Harlem brownstone for generations can afford to keep living there despite gentrification due to the pieces of caul they sell for a tidy profit. It is said that babies born with a caul are special and pieces of the magic caul can heal the sick, help women get pregnant and more. The family matriarch rules with an iron fist keeping what happens behind their door a secret. Hallow is the youngest with the caul and is the first to rebel against her sheltered life. She begins to question whether or not she is really part of the family and her role as others actively try to bring down the Melacons for their unorthodox trade. Themes of family dynamics, the gentrification of New York, the morality of organ selling and adoption are all at play here in this debut told without judgement. Just like the decay that sets into the brownstone and the family itself - secrets always come up to the surface. This will appeal to a wide audience such as fans of Jacqueline Woodson, James McBride as well as THE CITY WE BECAME and WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING. I also listened to the audiobook which is perfectly narrated. 4 stars
Maybe it was the fact that Joe hasn't changed much from his former evil self. Maybe it was that his newest conquest was a librarian or that the librarian has a teenage daughter. The book gave me a constant sense of the heebie jeebies and I am still looking over my shoulder in public. Anyone who has followed the hit show or her first book knows that the former bookseller from New York with an obsession problem knows what they are in for with this latest installment. It amazes me that his victim's creep radar doesn't register like their friend's radars always do. Fun, satisfying scare yourself silly book even if you know you would never fall for it (we hope).
3 1/2 stars unless you love the show and then it will be a 5 for you. A powerful memoir of a life surrounded by and later saved by food. Her childhood was tough working under the thumb of her oppressive father in the family diner. He didn't dish out praise and was often verbally abusive but working with the family did give her an appreciation for hard work and good food. She became a single mom, then found herself in a bad marriage, failed at a business and slid further down the rabbit hole of addiction before getting clean and starting a very successful restaurant. Her story is tough to read at times but the writing is totally honest and hopeful. This will appeal to anyone who has dreamed of owning a restaurant or readers of gritty memoirs like THE GLASS CASTLE. 4 stars
Hettie is in love- not with what her mother would consider a qualified suitor. Hettie has been in love with a 3 year old elephant named Violet since the first day they acquired her for the zoo. Now she works there and has a very special relationship with Violet. War and zoo animals don't mix so when bombings begin in Belfast hard choices must be made and Hettie makes her choice. She will do whatever it takes to protect Violet in ways that she feels she is unable to protect her family. Sweet story that once again show the capacity for goodness and evil in people trapped in catastrophic conditions. This clever debut will appeal to animal lovers as well as WWII history readers. 4 stars
Welcome to the high stakes, sleepless nights, chemical enhanced world of these children of immigrant parents of Asia. The number one goal is to give your child every opportunity and infuse them with whatever it takes to be the best in school so they can get into the next level of best schools so they can be the best job and make their family proud. Neil is pushing himself as hard as he can trying to live up to his parents expectations but he is not in the 99% which makes him open to a miracle. The miracle is found in his friend's mom and her interesting sideline of blending stolen gold into a magic elixir that promises to sharpen mental focus. Years go by and Neil is now a history grad student but he gets pulled back into the old business to help Anita's mom. This clever debut is a sarcastic look at the American Dream and the ambition and drive of these new Americans to have their children succeed. Funny in a bittersweet way, this book is solid gold for readers of the immigrant experience with a bit of magic added for good measure. 4 stars
Ada is the daughter of a dirt poor trapper living on the edge of Mississippi swamp. Her father is abusive and cruel and even more so when she comes back home pregnant and alone. Matilda is a sharecropper's daughter living in a shack with nothing they can call their own. A violent act brings these two young women together and they form a close friendship despite the different color of their skin and racial tension of the 1920's South. They help each other despite the danger and violence all around them. Ada has dreams of being a seamstress and Matilda just wants to head North where she can be free of the secrets. Historical fiction once again featuring tough women in tough times putting up with the men who have total control over their lives.
4 stars Rose wants to pursue her academic career and has never wanted children. When Rose and Luke fall in love and marry it is with the understanding that neither wants a family bigger than the two of them. Sadly, for Luke he later changes his mind and tries to convince Rose that a child would be the icing on the cake. Chapters offer different versions or" what ifs" of Rose and Luke's future but always begin with the confrontation over prenatal vitamins. This is an in-depth look at relationships , marriage, parenting and the struggle to pick the path that is right for you. 4 stars
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